1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to electrical power and, in particular, to electrical power systems. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for classifying events in an electrical power system using information collected by agents distributed throughout the electrical power system.
2. Background
An electrical power source supplies electrical power to loads. The electrical power source may generate electrical energy from mechanical, chemical, thermal, and/or other types of energy. The electrical power source transmits this electrical energy as electrical power to the loads. An electrical power source may also store electrical energy that has been generated previously. Electrical power may be delivered from a number of electrical power sources to a number of loads using an electrical power grid. An electrical power grid is comprised of a number of electrical power sources, loads, nodes, and power lines. A node is located at a connection of two or more power lines.
A smart grid is an electrical power grid that gathers, distributes, and performs operations in response to information about the electrical power grid. This information may include, for example, without limitation, information about power use, power generation, power flow, and other types of parameters in the electrical power grid.
A smart grid is enabled using different types of sensing and measurement devices that monitor various parameters in an electrical power grid and process information about these parameters. This information may be distributed to the electrical power grid using, for example, a communications network for the electrical power grid.
The electrical power grid may use this information to manage changes in power distribution, power generation, power use, and other parameters for the electrical power grid. In particular, the electrical power grid may use the information generated by the different sensing and measurement devices to maintain desired power distribution within the electrical power grid.
With this type of smart grid, concerns may be present regarding the physical security and information security of the smart grid. For example, one security concern may be a cyber-attack on the smart grid. In a cyber-attack, an undesired party, such as an unauthorized computer system, may take control of one or more portions of the smart grid. In some case, information may be stolen or manipulated in an undesired manner within the smart grid during a cyber-attack.
Additionally, with currently available configurations for a smart grid, processing the information acquired by the different sensing and measurement devices across the entire electrical power grid may be more difficult and/or more time-consuming than desired. For example, processing the information being distributed across a communications network for the electrical power grid to identify events and determine how to respond to those events may be more difficult and/or more time-consuming than desired. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues.